John Key was looking forward to a good old-fashioned stoush in Parliament yesterday. He did not get one. A new year and Labour is experimenting with a new tactic to spike the Prime Minister’s potent verbal guns. That tactic is to simply ignore him when he holds the floor for any length of time.

Heh, they’ve given up!

When it comes to one-upmanship, Key performs best when he is feeding off Opposition insults. He thrives on interruptions and the challenge of winging it with devastating put-downs of his adversaries. Usually being on the end of all that, Labour well knows it.

This is like Labour in the 1970s when Kirk instructed his MPs not to try and engage with Muldoon in the House!

Depriving Key of a crucial audience took some of the sting out of his mixture of barbs and pre-rehearsed jokes at Labour’s expense. Labour could not claim a victory. But the party probably denied Key being able to claim one either.

This was underlined when Cunliffe got to his feet. He is normally an impressive orator in a Parliament sadly short of such creatures.

But not yesterday. His relentlessly negative diatribe on Key’s and National’s perceived faults was too over the top to ring true and failed to answer one pertinent question. If things are going as badly wrong in New Zealand as Cunliffe claims, why are Key and National still so popular?

“You can do better than that, David,” interjected National’s Tau Henare at one point. The backbencher’s critique was one with which it was difficult to quibble.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 30th, 2014 at 1:00 pm and is filed under NZ Politics.
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24 Responses to “Armstrong on Cunliffe and Key”

This “Tojo” Cunliffe coot is a recognised loser, being supported by the evil union movement he has to toe the line or Labour’s rainbow crew will be in boots and all. Look at the funny fat fellow gloating every time “Tojo” stuffs up.

I watched Cunliffe snarling out of the side of his mouth like tricky dicky Nixon with as much sincerity that implies. Cunliffe is not real. Key eats him. I just hope key does not get too cocky. Cunliffe can be lethal but not yet.

Over the year the penny is going to start to drop for even the dumbest Socialist Party supporter that their leader lacks the ability to lead a government. Already the slippery lies around his so called $60 a week baby bonus are starting to get through the them. Oh so you mean we don’t actually get $60 a week immediately after our baby is born. You mean we have to wait until the other state handouts stop.
Bit by bit piece by piece Silent T is going to unravel himself.
Cant wait until the Leaders Debates Popcorn Time as JK takes Silent T apart.

I heard this afternoon from Wellington close source that the Labour Party HO, a policy advisor, had said to the Parliamentary Labour Caucus policy senior advisor, that the change to the New Zealand Flag was to be remitted, before the election, at the next Labour Party Conference.
It was leaked to National, within the Parliamentary complex, hence Key’s pre-emptive strike.
Whether anything happens before the election is anybody’s guess – probably not.

@ Paulus – the Labour Party is leaking like a sieve. Cunliffe is still not trusted by a majority of his caucus. Your revelation, plus the possibility that Cunliffe was set up over the Baby Bonus would come as no surprise. It seems that like rust, the ABC faction never sleeps.